Paul Simon apparently takes requests — and bribes — now.
The singer-songwriter performed at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall on Wednesday, where he dusted off his 1973 hit “Kodachrome” for the first time since 2019 — for the low price of $20 from an enthusiastic audience member.
You can see fan footage of the exchange and performance below.
Why Did Paul Simon Play ‘Kodachrome’ in Los Angeles?
Instagram user @dethsyndicate shared video of the truncated performance and offered some context as to how it went down.
“Some dude yelled, ‘Play “Kodachrome”!’ (He hasn’t played it since 2019),” they wrote. “And Paul Simon said, ‘I don’t do requests … unless you got 20 bucks’ (obviously being a silly goose). And then the dude whipped out a 20 and Paul went ahead, took the 20 and kept his promise. Can’t believe I saw this.”
READ MORE: Top 10 Paul Simon Songs
Simon released “Kodachrome” as the lead single off his third album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. The breezy song, named after Kodak’s now-discontinued color reversal film, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the singer’s most popular hits.
“Kodachrome” appeared at the beginning of Simon’s first of two encores on Wednesday. The 83-year-old singer performed 24 songs in total, including three Simon & Garfunkel classics: “Homeward Bound,” “The Boxer” and the show-closing “The Sound of Silence.” He also played his most recent solo album, 2023’s Seven Psalms, in full.
How Paul Paul Simon Recovered From Hearing Loss for A Quiet Celebration Tour
Simon launched his ongoing A Quiet Celebration tour in April. It marks his first proper trek since his 2018 Homeward Bound tour, which was planned as a farewell tour at the time.
In 2023, Simon revealed that he’d lost most of his hearing in one ear, rendering him unable to perform live. He has since regained enough of it to get back onstage, though his current tour is a more intimate affair than his Homeward Bound run.
Simon’s health woes are not fully behind him. He recently canceled a pair of shows in Philadelphia due to “intense back pain.” He quickly returned to the road, though, and he’s got close to a dozen more tour dates booked in San Francisco, Vancouver and Seattle through early August.
Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel Albums Ranked
He was always an uneasy folksinger, a role his record company tried to push him into starting with Simon & Garfunkel’s debut.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
